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Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), like other illnesses with prominent anxiety, may involve abnormal fear regulation and consolidation of safety memories. Impaired fear extinction memory (extinction recall, ER) has been shown in individuals with current symptoms of OCD [1]. However, contrary to expectations, the only previous study investigating this phenomenon showed a positive correlation between extinction recall abilities and OCD symptomology (i.e., as OCD symptoms worsened, extinction memory improved). The purpose of the current study was to determine if patients with a lifetime diagnosis of OCD (not necessarily currently symptomatic) also demonstrate impairments in extinction memory, and the relationship between OCD symptomology and extinction memory in this type of sample. In addition, we also examined fear renewal, which has never been investigated in an OCD sample. We enrolled 37 patients with OCD, the majority of whom were on serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and 18 healthy control participants in a 2-day paradigm assessing fear conditioning and extinction (Day 1) and extinction retention and renewal (Day 2). Skin conductance responses (SCRs) were the dependent measure. Results, as in the prior study, indicated that the only between-group difference was impaired ER in OCD patients relative to controls. Contrary to our prediction, OCD symptom severity was not correlated with the magnitude of extinction recall. There were no differences in fear renewal between OCD patients and controls.

An iterative algorithm for the inversion of ocean acoustic tomographic data is introduced. This allows the calculation of ocean environmental acoustic parameters from measured travel times between a distributed system of acoustic sources and receivers. The algorithm does not require expensive (because slowly convergent) nonlinear ray tracing. In each iteration both the modified environmental parameters and the perturbations to the ray paths are calculated from linearized equations. A convergence proof is outlined. It is shown in an example that a single iteration, which corresponds to the classical perturbation solution, can give insufficient accuracy in a realistic ocean. This is accomplished by evaluating the second variation of the travel-time data with respect to the environmental parameters and demonstrating that in typical, strongly focused sound channels it can be comparable in size to, or larger than the first variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The parabolic-equation technique has received considerable attention since its introduction to the underwater-sound community by Tappert and Hardin three years ago. The technique relies upon removing the primary radial dependence of the acoustic field from the elliptic wave equation, and approximating the resulting equation with a parabolic (or Schroedinger) equation which may then be rapidly solved on digital computers. The parabolic approximation has been shown for layered media to result in an error in the phase velocity of the normal modes. In underwater-sound propagation the phase-velocity error can cause substantial shifts in the range of convergence zones. A significant reduction in this error appears achievable by a simple modification to the refractive-index profile n (z) which transforms the (n,z) pairs of points into a new set of points (?,?). Within the accuracy of the WKB approximation, the normal modes for this new environment have the same phase velocities as the equivalent wave-equation modes in the original environment. The z to ? mapping indicates the correspondence between field points in the old and new environments. This mapping is designed to approximately map turning point into turning point. Comparisons with normal-mode solutions of the full elliptic wave equation are presented to illustrate the improvement in accuracy of the parabolic results under this transformation. A ray comparison is also given. Problems associated with extending the technique to a range-dependent environment are discussed and in limited testing have been found to be minimal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose of Review: Acupuncture is an analgesic technique that has long been utilized in Eastern medicine. In recent times, various acupuncture techniques have been used in integrated pain management approaches in Western medicine. It has even been adopted as an analgesic method in surgical patients. Currently, no review exists regarding various acupuncture techniques used in perioperative pain management and data describing the utility of these techniques. This paper synthesizes the latest literature regarding the role of acupuncture in perioperative pain management. The authors sought to describe various acupuncture modalities used to help manage surgical pain and synthesize the current body of literature to help readers make informed judgements on the topic., Recent Findings: Patients undergoing abdominal, spine/neuro, and gynecologic pelvic surgery generally benefit from acupuncture. Out of the various acupuncture techniques, electroacupuncture, transcutaneous electric acupoint stimulation, and traditional total body acupuncture seem to be most promising as adjuncts to multimodal perioperative analgesia. Benefits include improved analgesia and/or reduced narcotic requirements, decrease in PONV, and shorter time to return of bowel function. Acupuncture is a low-risk method that has the potential to enhance perioperative analgesia, decrease opioid requirement, and reduce unwanted side effects of anesthesia, surgery, and opioid administration such as nausea/vomiting. Given the variety of patient populations, various acupuncture techniques, and small patient populations for most current studies; it remains difficult to determine which acupuncture method would most benefit specific patients. Future studies with more robust sample sizes and prospective comparison on acupuncture technique would help better characterize acupuncture's role in perioperative pain management., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Objective: It is well established that exposure to combat is a risk factor for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The experiences of military personnel serving in combat zones vary widely however, leading to increased attention to the impact of different types of combat trauma. The present study examined the relationships among 3 conceptually based categories of combat exposure with 4 PTSD symptom clusters (reexperiencing, avoidance, numbing, and hyperarousal) and symptoms of guilt, depression, and anxiety., Method: Participants were 206 National Guard and Reserve members who had recently returned from deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan., Results: As hypothesized, findings from a multivariate multiple linear regression analysis showed that exposure to personal life threat predicted symptoms of hyperarousal, and exposure to death or severe injury of others predicted symptoms of depression. Hypotheses that personal life threat would predict anxiety symptoms, exposure to death or injury of others would predict numbing, and having killed would predict guilt were not supported., Conclusions: The relative degree of exposure to life threat and death/loss events in a war-zone may impact the development of different types of symptoms. These findings highlight the importance of considering different types of trauma exposure in future research. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).)

Lipogenic organisms provide an ideal platform for biodiesel and oleochemical production. Through our previous rational metabolic engineering efforts, lipogenesis titers in Yarrowia lipolytica were significantly enhanced. However, the resulting strain still suffered from decreased biomass generation rates. Here, we employ a rapid evolutionary metabolic engineering approach linked with a floating cell enrichment process to improve lipogenesis rates, titers, and yields. Through this iterative process, we were able to ultimately improve yields from our prior strain by 55% to achieve production titers of 39.1g/L with upwards of 76% of the theoretical maximum yield of conversation. Isolated cells were saturated with up to 87% lipid content. An average specific productivity of 0.56g/L/h was achieved with a maximum instantaneous specific productivity of 0.89g/L/h during the lipid production phase in fermentation. Genomic sequencing of the evolved strains revealed a link between a decrease/loss of function mutation of succinate semialdehyde dehydrogenase, uga2, suggesting the importance of gamma-aminobutyric acid assimilation in lipogenesis. This linkage was validated through gene deletion experiments. This work presents an improved host strain that can serve as a platform for efficient oleochemical production., (Copyright © 2015 International Metabolic Engineering Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Utilization of exogenous sugars found in lignocellulosic biomass hydrolysates, such as xylose, must be improved before yeast can serve as an efficient biofuel and biochemical production platform. In particular, the first step in this process, the molecular transport of xylose into the cell, can serve as a significant flux bottleneck and is highly inhibited by other sugars. Here we demonstrate that sugar transport preference and kinetics can be rewired through the programming of a sequence motif of the general form G-G/F-XXX-G found in the first transmembrane span. By evaluating 46 different heterologously expressed transporters, we find that this motif is conserved among functional transporters and highly enriched in transporters that confer growth on xylose. Through saturation mutagenesis and subsequent rational mutagenesis, four transporter mutants unable to confer growth on glucose but able to sustain growth on xylose were engineered. Specifically, Candida intermedia gxs1 Phe(38)Ile(39)Met(40), Scheffersomyces stipitis rgt2 Phe(38) and Met(40), and Saccharomyces cerevisiae hxt7 Ile(39)Met(40)Met(340) all exhibit this phenotype. In these cases, primary hexose transporters were rewired into xylose transporters. These xylose transporters nevertheless remained inhibited by glucose. Furthermore, in the course of identifying this motif, novel wild-type transporters with superior monosaccharide growth profiles were discovered, namely S. stipitis RGT2 and Debaryomyces hansenii 2D01474. These findings build toward the engineering of efficient pentose utilization in yeast and provide a blueprint for reprogramming transporter properties.

Laminin and elastin, two major constituents of the extracellular matrix, bind to cells via the elastin-laminin receptor (ELR), a receptor distinct from integrins. Despite the ubiquitous nature of elastin and laminin in the matrix, the consequences of activation of the ELR are unknown. Because integrins are capable of mechanosensitive transduction, we hypothesized that the ELR would exert a similar function. Accordingly, we examined the effects of cyclical stretch on canine coronary smooth muscle gene expression and proliferation that are mediated by the ELR. Northern blot analyses showed a 31% decrease in serum-induced expression of c-fos when cells were stretched for 30 min on elastin, but no change in expression was observed on collagen. Serum-induced proliferation of stretched cells was markedly attenuated on elastin when compared with collagen. Both the molecular (decreased c-fos expression) and biological (decreased proliferation) responses on elastin were restored after blockade of the ELR with the elastin fragment hexapeptide (valine-glycine-valine-alanine-proline-glycine, VGVAPG). The inhibition was specific for this peptide, as another hydrophobic hexapeptide (valine-serine-leucine-serine-proline-glycine, VSLSPG) did not inhibit the responses. These results demonstrate that cyclic stretch inhibits c-fos expression and proliferation of coronary vascular smooth muscle cells grown on elastin matrixes, a mechanosensitive response that is transduced by the ELR.